News Headlines:

Twin blasts: Finger of suspicion on IM, toll climbs to 16

22 Feb 2013, 1318 hrs IST, AGENCIES

Banned
militant outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM )'s name has cropped up in the preliminary
investigation into the twin blasts in Hyderabad in which the toll climbed to 16
today. The probe suggested that Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was used to
carry out the explosions and the modus operandi was similar to blasts triggered
by Indian Mujahideen in the
past.

Delhi Police, along with
Hyderabad Police, is expected to interrogate an alleged Indian Mujahideen
terrorist, arrested by Special Cell of the Delhi Police from a place in
Hyderabad last October. aqbool, who is currently in Tihar jail, had said that
the outfit was planning terror strikes in some places in Hyderabad for which
recce had been carried out.

The
death toll in the twin blasts, meanwhile, mounted to 16 with two more persons
succumbing to injuries. "Till now, out of 14 bodies, 12 have been handed over to
their kin. Two more bodies are in the mortuary. One has to be identified. 14
bodies have directly been sent to Osmania Hospital. Two more are awaited from
private hospitals," a senior doctor at the state-run Osmania General Hospital
said.

As many as 119 people
sustained injuries in the twin blasts last evening, police
said.

Union Home Minister
Sushil Kumar Shinde, who visited the site of the blast and also the injured in
hospital, said there was no specific alert about the blasts and only a general
alert was issued to the states. Asked about reports that suggested the
involvement of terror group Indian Mujahideen, he said that nothing can be said
about it at the moment.

Terror
struck Hyderabad yesterday when two powerful near simultaneous blasts ripped
through a crowded area close to a cluster of bus stands in Dilsukhnagar area.
The blasts triggered by IEDs tied to two bicycles took place at two sites 100
metres apart outside a roadside eatery near Konark and Venkatadiri theatres in
the area located on he Hyderabad-Vijaywada National
Highway.

The Saroor Nagar
police has registered a case, based on a complaint by an eye-witness Gadagolla
Anand, under different sections of IPC and Sections 3 and 5 of the Explosive
Substances Act as well as Sections 16, 17 and 18 of Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act.

A senior
police official said two CCTV cameras were installed on traffic posts at
Dilsukhnagar bus stand. However, it was found that one was not functioning. When
asked about the possibility of capturing blast images by the camera, he said it
may not be possible as they were focused towards the traffic. He, however, said
they are in the process of going through the
footage.

An Inspector General
of Police, who was at the scene last night, told PTI, "The crime scene was
largely disturbed as a large number of people moved freely even before we could
totally sanitise the two spots. A lot of evidence virtually got trampled due to
movement of VIPs, including the Chief Minister, large number of media personnel
and curious onlookers. "But still we could gather some material that could help
us in the probe," he said.

"It
was a high-grade explosion but the quantity of explosive used was low as it was
an IED. There was no conclusion yet about the type of explosive used in the
blasts. There are still many loose ends in the case which we are trying to tie
up. We are examining video footage recorded on closed-circuit cameras, installed
at the Dilsukhnagar bus stand junction (Rajiv Chowk) and also at one of the bus
shelters in the vicinity," he
said.

According to forensic
experts, there is a resemblance in the nature of injuries sustained by the
victims in the twin blasts that rattled Hyderabad now and the 2007 terror
blasts. The autopsy showed that the impact of the explosion was felt more in
2007 than it is now though the victims had similar injuries, the experts,
involved in both the investigations,
said.

"There are iron particles
found inside the bodies of the victims. We found nuts, bolts, nails, pieces of
glass then and also now," the expert told PTI. A senior doctor at the state-run
Osmania General Hospital said that the toll has gone upto 16 and the number of
injured to about
120.

Heart-rending scenes were
witnessed at the Hospital, where the bodies have been kept, with wailing
relatives collecting the bodies of their family
members.

Meanwhile, it has come
to light now that Hyderabad city Police Commissioner Anurag Sharma has offered
prayers at the
Saibaba temple in
Dilshuknagar area minutes before the blast took place.